Clay-mixing- machine



HALvnn RUFUS STRAIGHT, or ABEL, IowA.

CLAY-MIXING- MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 13, 1919..

Application filed July 3, 1918. Serial No. 243,161.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HALVER It. STRAIGHT, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Adel, in the county of Dallas and State .of Iowa, haveinvented a certain new and useful Clay-Mixing Machine, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a clay mixing machine havingparts so constructed and arranged as to thoroughly and effectively mixclay. i

A further object is to provide a machine of simple and relativelyinexpensive me chanical construction, including an endless conveyercomprising a plurality of rows or series of rollers having belts or thelike mounted thereon, and a flexible endless con veyer member adapted totravel on "said belts, the parts being so arranged as to permit thematerial to drop downwardly be tween the diflerent rows or series ofrollers to a certain degree so as to cause considerable agitation of thematerial as the" material passes over the rollers.

With these and other objects in. view, my invention consists in theconstruction, ar-

rangement and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby theobjects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth,pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in which:

Figure 1 shows a vertical, central, sectional view through a clay mixingmachine embodying one form of my invention.

Fig. 2 shows a top or plan view of the same, the water pipe beingomitted.

Fig. 3 shows a vertical, transverse, sectional view taken on the line 33of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4: shows a transverse, vertical, sectional view taken on the line Hof Fig. 2, the outer endless canvas or belt being omitted. I

Fig. 5 shows a detaihsectional view of a portion of the conveyor in aslightly modified form of my invention.

Fig. 6 shows a similar view of still an: other form. a

In the accompanying drawings I have used the reference numeral 10 toindicate generally the lower supporting members of a frame having thespaced, longitudinally arranged frame members 12. The frame members 12are connected and braced by suitable transverse frame members 13, such,for instance, as those shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

Mounted on the frame members 12 are a plurality of transverse framemembers 14:,

spaced from each other as illustrated in Fig. 1.

Mounted on the various frame members 1 1 are a plurality of transverserows of brackets, the brackets of each row being indicated by thereference characters 15, 16, 17, 16 and 18. These brackets are soarranged as to rotatably support rollers 17 and to make in general achannel-shaped or trough formation of theendless conveyer of whichtherollers form a part.

At each end of the frame is a pair of long rollers 20 and 21, the roller20 beingsome what higher than the rollers 19 on which travel the threemiddle belts 22, and the roller 21 being somewhathigher than the roller20 so as to cause the middle belts of the1 endless conveyer to beelevated at the en s.

Traveling over the rollers 20 and 21, and also over therollers 19, are aseries of endless belts 22. A loose, flexible endless member of canvasor the like 23 extends around the endless conveyor members justdescribed,

the upper stretch of the member 23 resting on the belts 22 and the lowerstretch having some slack as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

Near what I shall call the front end of the machine, which is theright-hand end as shown in Fig. 1, are spaced uprights 24:, at the upperends of which are bearings 25 in which a shaft 26 is journaled. On theshaft 26, between the bearings 25, is a drum 2'? from which project alarge number of teeth or pins 28 of diiferent lengths.

On the outer end of the shaft 26 is a belt pulley29. On theshaft 26 is apulley 30, Which is in line with a belt pulley on the shaft 31 on whichone of the rollers 21 is mounted.

Near the discharge end of the machine are mounted sideboards or the like34:, as shown in Fig. 1, to prevent the material being mixed fromspilling over the sides of the conveyer near said discharge end. Asuitable water pipe 35 is arranged to discharge water upon the materialbeing fed to the forward end of the mixing conveyer.

In the forms of my mixer shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the end rollers are notelevated above the other rollers of the trough, and the rollers 19' areprovided from end to end of the trough, having belts 22 similar to therollers 19 and belts 22 as in Fig. 5, or straight end rollers 21 areprovided on a level with the lower rollers 19.

In the practical operation of my improved clay mixing machine, the clayafter having been crushed or otherwise reduced to comparatively smallparticles, is fed onto the endless belt 23 at the forward end of the ma-.chine, and is there thoroughly mixed with upon.

On the belt pulley 30 and the belt pulley on the shaft 31 is a belt 37through which power may be transmitted to the shaft 81 and the forwardroller 21. It will be seen that by thus imparting power to the forwardroller a the lower stretches of the belts 22 will be drawn taut, whilethe upper stretches thereof, as well as the upper stretch of the endlessbelt 23, will be loose and will tend to sag down between the successiverows or series of rollers 19.

Thus the material being drawn along through the trough-like conveyerwill "be agitated as it rolls over the rollers 19 and then into the lowplaces in the flexible endless conveyer memlbers between the successiverows of rollers 19. The arrangement of the rollers 19 is such as to givethe endless conveyer the shape of a trough or channel so that the claywill not be discharged at the sides of the endless conveyer. When theclay reaches the discharge end of the conveyer and starts to pass overthe rearward rollers 20 and 21, the side-boards 34 will prevent the clayfrom being spilled over the sides of the conveyer.

It will be seen that my device is of very simple construction, and yetaffords the advantage of an endless conveyer, which, in carrying thematerial from one end of the conveyor to the other, will serve tocontinually and thoroughly agitate and mix the material.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of thevarious parts of my improved device, without departing from theessential features and purposes of my invention, and it is my intentionto cover by my claims, any modified forms of structure or use ofmechanical equivalents which may be included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a mixing device, an endless conveyer having its central portioncomprised of a plurality of rows of rotating members arranged with therotating members at the ends of the row higher than those between theends of said row, the respective rollers in the different rows beingalined longitudinally of the conveyer and having belts thereon, and anendless flexible conveyer member mounted upon said belts.

2. In a mixing device, an endless conveyer having its central portioncomprised of a plurality of rows of rotating members arranged with therotating members of the side rows higher than those between the siderows, rollers adjacent to the ends of said conveyer, arranged hisrherthan those rollers between the ends of the conveyer and between the siderows, endless belts mounted on said rows of rollers, an endless flexibleconveyer member mounted upon said belts, and means for impartingrotation to the end roller at the receiving end of the machine, wherebymaterial on the conveyer will force the flexible conveyer memberdownwardly between said rows, for causing said material to be agitatedas it passes over the rollers.

3. In a mixing device, an endless conveyer, a plurality of rows ofrotating members arranged with the rotating members at the sides higherthan those spaced from and between the side rows, rollers adjacent tothe ends of said conveyer, arranged higher than those rollers betweenthe side rows and between the ends of the conveyer above described,endless belts mounted on said rollers, an endless flexible conveyermember mounted upon said belts, and material retaining means at thesides of said endless conveyer at the discharge end of the machine.

4. In a mixing device, an endless conveyer having a plurality of rows ofrotating members arranged with the rotating members of the side rowshigher than those between the side rows and spaced from the ends of theconveyer, rollers adjacent to the ends of said conveyer, arranged higherthan those rollers between the end rollers above described, endlessbelts mounted upon said rollers, an endless flexible conveyer membermounted upon said belts, means for i1nparting rotation to the end rollerat the receiving end of the machine, and an agitating device arranged toagitate material on the conveyer near the receiving end thereof.

Des Moines, Iowa, June 12, 1918.

I-IALVER RUFUS STRAIGHT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

